Cosmic Clouds

So you think your starry sky is ready. You are now going to complete it with some cosmic clouds and learn how Photoshop's layer masks work.

1. Create a new layer above your starry sky and set the way it is displayed to Exclusion mode.
   
   
Call this layer Clouds


2. Select Filter > Render > Clouds.
   
   
3. Set the foreground color to a rust or bright-red color (for example, 176, 0, 0).
   
   
4. Select Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.
   
   
You can create some really toxic-coloured clouds.


5. Repeat this last filter until you obtain some satisfactory-looking clouds. You can use other foreground colours to create multi-coloured clouds.
   
   

However, there is a small problem. The clouds totally cover up the sky. We are going to use a layer mask which, when applied to a layer allows part of it to be masked, so that only part of the layer is displayed. The white areas of the mask allow the layer patterns to show through, while the black areas hide the patterns.

1. Select Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All.
   
   
The image's appearance does not alter, but a completely white layer mask appears on the clouds layer.



Figure 3: The layer mask as it appears in the layers palette.


2. Select the Paintbrush tool, with black for the colour and a soft tip of 35 pixels.
   
   
3. Blacken the cloud areas that you want to hide on the layer mask.
   
   

By masking the clouds at the top and the bottom of the image, you will obtain a misty-looking effect running across the image.



Figure 4: We have added clouds to our universe.